RTP-area local music and culture

["Glenn Boothe / Local 506" <gboothe2 AT earthlink.net>]

A couple things on this point:

First of all, regarding inaccurate show-times, when it happens at Local
506, most times it is the band's fault, not the clubs.  I now post
start-times on our website and those very times have been communicated
to the bands.  Now, it is my soundguys job to get them on the stage
(something they seem better at when I'm in attendance!)  but ultimately
the band KNOWS this as well.

Sometimes I can be sympathetic (if there is a line outside, if there is
UNC game almost ending, etc.) although ultimately, it is my assumption
that if people don't come at the advertised time, then people aren't
that interesting in seeing the entire opening set...which shouldn't
come to any surprise, as that is why that band is playing first, not
headlining.  Personally, I think the headliners should be more
concerned about this as it usually their band and their fans that get
penalized.

I am NOT a fan of bands who advertise false times, which I see alot
(ie; saying 9:30pm when they know it's 10pm.)  It just fuels the
problem as cited by Ross and, unfortunately, really penalizes the true
fans.  As I always say, movie theatres don't wait for the theatre to
fill, they start the movie on time and if the theatre is empty, then
that means fewer people are interested in that movie, not that they are
just running late.

However, there are exceptional circumstances at times.  In the case of
Hold Steady, all the advertising said first band at 9:30pm; however, I
just happened to notice the night before that the Cradle's hard tix
said 10pm.  So, I huddled with all the bands before the show and we
collectively decided to go with the latter time (so as not to penalize
anyone who had bought tix in advance.) Had that not been the case, that
show would have started 30 minutes earlier.

With that said, just last week I had a local band complain about their
stage time, telling me that all their friends thought they were playing
later and hadn't shown up yet.  After checking my email exchange with
said band, I blamed that on poor inter-band communication and made the
band go at the pre-agreed upon time...and then, of course, took note of
how many addiitonal people showed within the next forty-five minutes.
That number was TWO, and I'm not even sure they came for that band.
Needless to say, such "excuses" usually do more damage in my eyes than
good...

With all that said, for some reason, it's also the bands that complain
about playing earlier than usual.  I'm fine with early start-times
although, do keep in mind that we are a bar so, to a certain degree,
the latter time periods work better for that purpose.  But I'd rather
have more people coming out and realize that most 9-5'ers don't even
consider a 506 show during the week...and have toyed with ideas such as
two-band bills on weekdays, but open to other suggestions.

Let's see, to recap this week on amch - Student's don't come out to
shows and 9-5'ers don't either.  That's leaves a pretty small niche to
pull from...no wonder it can be frustrating

glenn / 506